DoubleBeam Fills Out Mobile Tech Offering with GoPago Purchase

DoubleBeam, a white-label payments provider, plans to offer a complete mobile commerce platform for both its online and brick-and-mortar merchant customers through its December purchase of GoPago.

"We have been talking to GoPago for almost a year…and have been pretty impressed by the technology and solution they've built," says Ted Tekippe, CEO of DoubleBeam. "What we really liked about GoPago was their interface to consumers mobile devices…they can download the app and order ahead."

Shortly before DoubleBeam's Dec. 20 acquisition, several outlets reported Amazon.com had purchased GoPago in part or in its entirety. Tekippe would not comment on what relationship Amazon.com may have with DoubleBeam or GoPago. Amazon.com did not respond to inquiries by deadline.

DoubleBeam has been running its white-label software development kit (SDK) since January on the premise of lowering merchants interchange fees by using electronic checks. In October, a grocery store chain based in Oklahoma, Homeland, began using DoubleBeam as a way to digitize its plastic loyalty card without having the vendor's brand get in the way.

Many of DoubleBeam's merchant clients had been requesting an order-ahead feature, especially the grocery chains, says Tekippe. GoPago's order-ahead technology allows customers to pay ahead as well and skip the lines when they get to the store.

Another feature DoubleBeam has been missing, Tekippe says, was an online shopping cart. With GoPago, when merchants want to add a commerce function to their mobile app, they'll be able to add inventory and allow customers to fill an online shopping cart and make purchases on their mobile devices, he says.

"This overlays nicely with the mobile technology we've built…the SDK allows customers to store payment credentials and use that to pay" at the physical point of sale, Tekippe says.

GoPago also provides DoubleBeam's merchants with a cloud-based mobile point of sale system. DoubleBeam's technology will allow GoPago clients to accept eChecks to lower their transaction costs, says Tekippe.

"DoubleBeam eChecks can be up to 80% cheaper that credit card interchange," which averages about 10 cents plus 2.5% per transaction, Tekippe says. "Our eChecks on average cost about 15 cents per transaction."

The acquisition will also facilitate DoubleBeam creating a remote deposit capture option for its merchants, especially its target vertical including home service delivery, such as electricians and cleaners.

These merchants still primarily accept checks for payment, and streamlining and automating the process of depositing checks will make their businesses run more smoothly, says Tekippe.